Implementing an email marketing campaign is a smart move, but for many businesses taking the DIY approach to marketing, email campaigns are easier in theory than in practice.
It’s frustrating to pour time, energy, and money into email marketing, only to come up with abysmal open rates, sickly clickthroughs, and too few conversions to justify the resources and expense.
At this point, your company may be tempted to abandon email altogether.
Don’t quit yet!
Building a successful email strategy takes time and skill, and when you get it right, the returns are more than worth it.
Just look at these numbers:
- ROI for email marketing campaigns is statistically 3X higher than returns on social media
- Emails are 6X more likely to get a clickthrough than a Tweet
- An email campaign is 4,000% more effective at attracting new customers than either Facebook or Twitter
- Compared to all other marketing channels, email marketing boasts the highest conversion rates
- In 2015, professional email marketing produced and average of $38 for every $1 spent – that’s a 3,800% return on investment!
Email marketing campaigns are lucrative, especially when you use software to personalize and automate your messaging. So, before you give up on email, use this troubleshooting guide and boost your results:
Troubleshooting Common Email Campaign Problems
Check the Quality of Signups
Even if you write the greatest emails in the world, if they never reach the inboxes of qualified prospects, you’ll never make a sale.
Think of it this way:
Sending your emails to the wrong people is like a door-to-door internet salesman trying to pitch to the Amish.
As you gather email addresses, whether you purchase a list or collect them yourself, be sure that they’re coming from quality sources.
Your marketing messages should be consistent with your products and services – just because a certain ad campaign gets a lot of attention does not mean that the people who like your ad will like your product.
Fake emails are another consideration.
Overly aggressive email list builders might get a lot of “signups,” but people who are annoyed by popups or pushy marketing frequently use false or throwaway email addresses to keep your marketing messages out of their inboxes.
Improve the quality of your email list, and you’ll improve your campaign efficiency.
Rework Subject Lines
The first thing a prospect sees is your email subject line.
Boring, generic, or spammy subject lines don’t inspire much action…
Especially when you consider that most people get an average of 88 emails every day.
Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened, and you can further increase your open rates by giving your subjects a sense of urgency and uniqueness.
More Value, Less Marketing
You can improve open rates, clickthroughs, and conversions over time by sending value-driven emails more frequently than you send strictly sales-based messages.
Give your subscribers something to look forward to.
You’ll build a relationship with them, improve your reputation, and make more money.
Blog for Trust
Your blog and your email campaign are closely linked.
Of course your blog is a resource for gathering leads and attracting new traffic to your website, but if you’re smart, you can also leverage your blog posts to create a trusting relationship between your business and your prospects.
Blogs have the power to humanize brands, and people like to buy from humans.
Use your blog effectively, and the people who love it will look forward to opening your emails.
Change Email Frequency
Emailing too often – or not staying in contact enough – reduces your email marketing effectiveness.
The balance is different for every business and audience.
Send too many emails, and you’ll be relegated to the spam folder or see tons of unsubscribes.
On the other hand, if you don’t keep in touch with your fans, they’ll stop thinking about you and your open rates will plummet.
Behavior-driven email campaigns are the smartest way to handle this:
More than 3/4 of all revenue generated by email campaigns comes from behavior-triggered automated campaigns, not generic mass mailings.
You’ll still have to find the right balance for your business, though.
Tech Literacy Matters
Have you ever gotten an email from a business that still had the “insert text here” instructions?
Be sure that you know how to use your email marketing software. Those foibles make you look inexperienced and cheap, and it can significantly reduce your email effectiveness.
Things like images that aren’t placed correctly, poor contrast that makes messages hard to read, or layouts that can only be seen on a desktop computer alienate big chunks of your audience.
If you’re not particularly tech literate yourself…
Hire a Professional
Marketing is a skill that takes time and effort to learn.
You certainly can learn to do it yourself, but if you choose to take the DIY approach, it’s unrealistic to expect professional results.
A pro copywriter, or especially an experienced digital marketer, already knows how to execute an email marketing strategy that gets you results.
Depending on your budget, you might hire somebody in-house, outsource the work to a freelancer, or implement software that fills some of the gaps in your current skill level while you learn more and improve.
Email marketing is a smart business strategy, and it’s worth learning.
Avoid these common pitfalls, and you’ll do great!
